The Manchester folk group are pleading for help after burglars raided the Levenshulme, Manchester, home of guitarist Adam Gorman and made off with most of the band’s gear on Tuesday night.

After gaining entrance via the letterbox, the burglars stole goods from the house but then made their getaway in the band’s blue Ford Transit – which was loaded with guitars, a drum kit, amplifiers, and other gear.

Costly: The burglary is though to have cost the band £30,000

The band won Glastonbury Festivals New Talent competition in 2008 and have just finished a tour.

Adam told the Manchester Evening News: “I was at home, and they’ve broken into my house, and it’s maybe just a normal burglary because they’ve had some stuff out of my house, like my TV and XBox, and then probably spotted the keys and the van’s outside and they’re just driven off with it.

“I don’t think they came in looking for the keys, it was just an opportunist theft.

Winners: The group won Glastonbuty Festivals New Talent in 2008

“When they took the van, they won’t have known what was in the back. It’s probably only when they’ve stopped and opened it up that they’ve realised what’s in there. I’ve got guitars in the house that they didn’t take - they just wanted the TV and computers.”

“We’d just done our last gig of the year in Leeds on Monday night and we were getting ready to load all our equipment back into the rehearsal room today.”

“The equipment is worth between £25,000 and £30,000, and it’s pretty much all our gear, all our tour kit that’s taken us years to amass. It’s not going to be easy to replace them.”

Stolen: The van held most of the group's touring equipment

“Crucially we want music shops and second hand shops, and people who buy used equipment like Cash Converters and Cash Generators, to be on the look out. It’s hard to say where they might go or what they might do when they’ve got that much stuff to get rid of.

“Me and Nick (Vaal, drummer) have driven around lots of shops today and we haven’t found anything. I’m imagining they’re be after quick money rather than holding onto it all.”

Adam estimates the break in was around 1am on Wednesday. Police told him the van was last spotted on a camera travelling on a minor road towards Bury at around 1.30am. He discovered the burglary when he got up for work at 5.30am.

Plea: Music and pawn shops are being asked to keep an eye out for anyone selling instruments